We spend days – weeks even – preparing our recipes, fussing over the physical preparations, but how are we preparing to meet what is the most important part of a Holiday…our relationships with the people present? Here’s a few examples and ideas for conversation starters:
Rainy Mountain Quest 2025 on North Carolina’s Grandfather Mountain is now a grand memory… As promised, I will list notes from the kata taught over the August 2025 weekend. These are from the Kuki Shinden Ryu bojutsu collection Sabaki Kata GEKICHU KERI AGE TSUKE IRI GORIN KUDAKI (“Crushing the abdomen”) I did not include the description of what the adversary is doing with his sword in these descriptions. I don’t expect anyone to learn and apply this technique without having been there. It is listed as a reminder for those coached through the kata at Mountain Quest 2025.
Some friends at my dojo began a “challenge” of writing notes about what they are grateful for. I like that kind of thinking in this
A student once asked me, “Japanese martial arts books sometimes describe a state called mu-shin, or ‘no-mind’. If I were thinking of nothing, how could
I stood at the edge of the training area with one of the brown belt Trainers. She and I were watching a group of new
Developing real martial arts skill is not a quick-stick tack-on, but rather a deep-seep accumulation. You have to learn good lessons and then repeat those
In my non-stop travels the first half of this year, I was teaching a private lesson to a To-Shin Do green belt student. We were
A disciplined athlete and wealthy martial arts businessman I knew left his family and students by way of suicide. Many are concerned that revelations of
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My habit is never to meet a knowledgeable teacher without having a good question in mind, just in case I am given the opportunity to
Think you know the Kiri Sage series from the Happo Biken sword secrets handed down by Toshitsugu Takamatsu? Odds are you really don’t. Did you